


Remember when you said you loved me?

by CascadedSunsets



Series: Bughead oneshots [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Jughead Jones Needs a Hug, This Is Sad, archies not really here but his name is mentioned, as she should be, as she should because cheating is no joke, as they should - Freeform, betty cooper is honest phew, betty doesn’t lie about her cheating here, betty takes a hard blow, but he is in the past, everyone hates betty, im bad at tagging, jughead isn’t awake for the present part of this, like super hopeful its almost happy, like super sad, not canon adjacent, ok yeah, post 4x17, so is Jughead, veronicas angry at betty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:01:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25222075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CascadedSunsets/pseuds/CascadedSunsets
Summary: “Now, as she walked past him, chuckling lowly at the muted Hitchcock movie playing on the tv across from him, she wondered if they would ever be the same.She knew the answer.“———a post 4x17 oneshot that i wrote to give me closure
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper (Mentioned), Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Series: Bughead oneshots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1670839
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Remember when you said you loved me?

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys i’m back!! so like i know i literally disappeared off of the face of the earth but i had an idea that i decided to write because i’m a sucker.
> 
> just a short little oneshot in which betty’s actually honest about her cheating instead of the absolute ooc decision of making her lie about it. 
> 
> also this is pretty sad because i haven’t yet translated my hatred for betty to my disappointment in the writers
> 
> and it probably makes no sense because i can’t write when im sad and this is unbeta’d

Betty couldn’t sleep _._ _ Of course  _ Betty couldn’t sleep. It was hot and she had the covers pulled down to her knees. 

Deep down she knew why she was struggling. Every time she felt her eyes beginning to close, she’d snuggle up to the other side of the bed and jolt awake at the chilling emptiness of what was once filled with her entire world. 

The world that was currently asleep downstairs because he couldn’t bear seeing her face. 

His pillows still smelled like him. When Betty was wracked with insomnia, like tonight, she would hold one of them close to her heart and it was almost the same as having him right next to her. She hadn’t had to use her own pillows in a while. She’d become used to using his chest to rest her head. 

Her bed almost seemed too big for her now. The dull emptiness of the other side overwhelmed her, so much so that she either curled into herself to ease the ache or stretched herself as wide as possible to reduce the space. 

Eventually she gave up on sleep and treaded out of bed, light on her feet to avoid being heard. She slowly opened her bedroom door, cringing at its creaks, and padded down the hallway. As she passed her mom’s door, she released her breath at her mom’s soft, unaware snores from inside. 

She quietly crept down the stairs, careful to avoid the squeaky one, and stopped short at the sight of him lying on the sofa. 

\\\

_ “Betts?” He asked, concern visible in his eyes, “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He sat beside her on their bed, the dip making her tear up.  _

_ “Juggie, I..” She started, unable to look him in the eyes, staring down at her clenched fists and blinking profusely to stop her tears from flowing. He placed a hand on her neck to lift her head up, looking her in the eyes and using his other hand to pry her nails from her palms. She stared at him, memorising as much of his face as she could before she shattered his heart in two. She took longer on his eyes. The stormy blue mixed in with an emerald green made it look like the loveliest mix of land and sea. God, she would miss his eyes.  _

_ “Betty?” He brought her out of her yearning, his hand moving from her neck to her left cheek, thumb massaging her cheek bone. The words she wished to say were lodged in her throat, and she struggled to force them out. When she finally blurted “I cheated on you,” She wished she could’ve taken it back when she saw the realisation dawning on his face.  _

_ But she couldn’t. Because she had already done it, and Betty Cooper was nothing if not a firm believer in honesty. When his hand dropped from her face, though, his imaginary imprint left a burning sensation tingling on the left side of her face.  _

_ He said nothing at first, eyes closed and lips shut, as if processing. But when his eyes reopened, the increased moisture  _

_ swimming around them had her choking back a sob herself.  _

_ “Please say something, Jug,” She cried desperately, reaching her arms out but pulling back when he flinched away.  _

_ “Who?” He asked, voice unequivocally hardened.  _

_ “What?”  _

_ “Who did you kiss, Betty?” He snapped, agitated by her confusion.  _

_ “...Archie.” Jughead looked at her in disbelief before he stood up, turning his back to her and shaking his head. Betty stood up behind him, watching helplessly as four years of pure bliss was ruined by her. When he turned back to look at her, his tears were flowing down his cheeks, slowly, and then all at once.  _

_ “But I thought you loved me.” He choked, and Betty immediately rushed to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his head down to rest on her shoulder, while she whispered words of reaffirmation in his ear.  _

_ “I do love you, I always will...” _

_ “Archie was a mistake..” _

_ “I was angry, and I just–” at that, his head snapped up and he backed away from her, the cloudiness in his eyes replaced with a fire she had never seen directed at her before.  _

_ “You were angry?” He asked, voice cold. at her silence, he repeated, voice rising, “You were angry?” _

_ “Jughead, I–“ She started, choking when he cut her off. _

_ “So you kissed him after our fight. After our fight about my homework? My FUCKING homework?!” He seethed, chest heaving with anger. _

_ She hesitated at first before nodding her confirmation. He laughed, humourless and sharp, before pointing at her, walking towards her again.  _

_ “Is that all it took? For you to go running back to the man who’s only ever wanted you when he’s had nobody else? That’s all it fucking took?” His words hurt, but in retrospect, he was right. Archie had wanted her after fighting for Veronica. Both times they had kissed, it had been caused by a fight with their partners.  _

_ He scoffed at her, looking her up and down with the kind of disgust that had her heart breaking. “Remember what I said, all those years ago, when we first started dating? I said that you would go back to Archie once you’d had enough of me. And guess what?” He laughed again, harder this time, “That is exactly what you fucking did!” He was right. Again. _

_ “Juggie–“ She sobbed, reaching out for him again. He backed away. _

_ “Don’t touch me!” He shouted, raised voice startling her into silence.  _

_ “NEVER call me that again.” He said coolly, voice guarded and chilling, “You‘re a dirty liar, Betty Cooper. I’ve never hated you more than I do now.” With that, he stormed out of their room, slamming the door behind him.  _

_ Betty crumpled, knees buckling, and fell to the floor. She rested her head on her forearm and let out the loudest sobs she ever had in her life. _

\\\

Jughead hadn’t uttered a word to her after that. He avoided her in school, and locked himself in the guest room at home. One day, when she entered her room after telling Veronica at Pop’s on behalf of Archie (which had ended in a milkshake being thrown at her and an endless rant of how Betty had broken the girl code and how Veronica would never forgive her) she found that all of his things had disappeared. That night, she started hugging his pillow at night instead of his clothing. Her tears seemed to never dry on it. 

Now, as she walked past him, chuckling lowly at the muted Hitchcock movie playing on the tv across from him, she wondered if they would ever be the same.

She knew the answer.

She wandered to the kitchen and filled a glass with water that she didn’t want. She took one sip and then poured it down the sink. Bracing her hands on the edge of thecounter and folding her lips inward, she turned back and walked cautiously towards Jughead’s sleeping figure. Tentatively, she knelt down in front of him and took in at his long eyelashes and the dark curl escaping to the front of his face. he had the covers pulled up to his neck, something he always seemed to do no matter how hot the night was, and she hesitatingly wiped away the bead of sweat forming at his brow. she lightly traced the moles flecked on his lower jaw before brushing the curl at his forehead behind his ear. She stared at him one last time before leaning in and featherlight kissing him, her lips brushing ever so slightly against his. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to calm her down, for now. He stirred, but didn’t wake.

“I’m sorry, Juggie,” She whispered, hand still on his cheek, “I fucked up, and even though you hate me right now, which I deserve, and even though you can’t hear me, I just want to say that I still love you, so much. I don’t think I’ll ever get over you.” 

When he mumbled something akin to her name in his state of unconsciousness, she cursed herself at the tiny flicker of hope that erupted in her chest. 

In Jughead’s dreams, as an angel with white wings, blonde hair, and forest green eyes whispers about how much she still loves him, he feels himself slowly gravitating closer to realising that he still loves her too. 

**Author's Note:**

> this was actually a lot shorter than i thought it would be, mostly because i thought i would spend more time being upset over betty literally betraying both her bf and bff over a boy that rejected her three years ago but hey i guess not.
> 
> also even though i wrote this ending i’d be terribly terribly angry if the writers make jughead forgive betty after like a week
> 
> it’s kinda mean of me but i’d like betty to spend college sad over ruining what she could’ve had five more years of.
> 
> anyways yeah that’s it!! hope you liked <3


End file.
